It's getting to the point now where I have to admit defeat & seriously consider shelling out for a mini lathe (her indoors isn't going to see the funny side of this one at all).

To justify the purchase to myself, I need to be convinced that it is possible to turn Stailness A2 rod.

i'm talking here, skimming (is that the right term?!) 2mm off M10 diameter ...to a length of about 20mm.

Someof the more recent mini lathes have decent sized motors (by mini lathe standards).

here's one at 400W I'm thinking about....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Lathe-Bra...lenotsupported

or a slightly larger model for £50 more...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Lathe-Bra...lenotsupported

In the main, I'll likely only be turning acrylic, aluminium & perhaps a bit of brass ...but just wanted to know if stainless is do-able in small bite size chunks approach?!